There are many challenges facing designers of computer applications, one of which is to make maximum use of display resources of a screen that is used to display the application. This is particularly the case where the screen area may be limited, for example on a smartphone, tablet, or other mobile computing device.
This problem can be particularly marked in the context of computer games, where a screen may have to display many different game components for active engagement by a player. Many computer games are now played through a network where users may interact with one another in various ways, such as sending messages or invitations, or transferring game-related data. A contact is another player of the game who the current player may wish to interact with. Contacts' details, e.g. their names, are displayed on the screen and a user can select from the displayed contacts. Users may typically have many contacts with whom they may choose to interact with and, due to the limited size of the screen on which the application is displayed, only some these contacts may appear as options to be selected at any one time. One method that is used to determine which contacts appear on the screen as options, is for a processor to select a group of users at random from the full list of a user's contacts.
It is the aim of the present invention to improve management of display resources by a more focused selection of a user's contacts that are displayed.